La Jolla Playhouse-born musical ‘Come From Away’ to end Broadway run

“Come From Away,” the uplifting 9/11-themed musical that made its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse in 2015, will conclude its Broadway run on Oct. 2.

The musical opened at Manhattan’s Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 12, 2017, and was nominated for seven Tony Awards, together with Finest Musical and Finest Authentic Rating. It received one trophy — for its director Christopher Ashley, who’s the creative director at La Jolla Playhouse.

The musical’s profitable Broadway run was interrupted by the pandemic’s arrival in March 2020. It reopened once more this previous January. However like a number of different musicals that have been doing sturdy field workplace enterprise earlier than the pandemic, “Come From Away” was not in a position to regain its momentum this yr on account of a COVID case surge final winter and a common decline in theatergoing nationwide.

Two different Broadway musicals, “Tina” and “Pricey Evan Hanson,” additionally introduced plans to shut final week, and the musical “Mrs. Doubtfire,” which opened simply days earlier than the pandemic hit in 2020 and reopened once more final fall, closed completely in Could.

By the point the Broadway manufacturing of “Come From Away” closes subsequent fall, it should have performed 25 previews and 1,670 common performances — giving it the rank of sixtieth on the record of Broadway’s 100 longest-running reveals. The musical has spawned a number of worldwide productions, a filmed efficiency for the streaming community Apple TV+ and a North American nationwide tour, which visited the San Diego Civic Theatre final month.

In an electronic mail over the weekend, Ashley wrote about what the musical has meant to him through the years.

“It has been an unimaginable honor and a pleasure to work with the terribly gifted artistic group, solid, band and crew of ‘Come From Away’ all through its journey from the Playhouse to Broadway and past,” Ashley wrote. “I couldn’t be extra happy with our employees, board, and our fantastic patrons — all of whom helped develop and assist the musical right here in San Diego and propel it to continued success on levels around the globe.

“‘Come From Away’s’ story of kindness and generosity throughout troublesome occasions is extra pressing now than it ever was, and whereas we’re unhappy to see the Broadway run finish, it’s gratifying to know that the nationwide tour, together with productions in London, Australia and Newfoundland, will proceed to share the present’s important message,” he wrote.

“Come From Away” is predicated on the true story of how residents within the small city of Gander in Canada’s island province of Newfoundland mobilized to look after, feed and home roughly 6,600 stranded worldwide air vacationers, after 38 passenger jets have been grounded there for days within the wake of the terrorist bombings on Sept. 11, 2001.